.........................................
> your thought about the organic interplay/interdependence between the
> scientific rush up the hill and the cult's rush down into the deep six
> is like a hot-fudge sundae rush to my brain. thanks. i sure miss the
> good old days of my kidhood when i could always count on the Shadow to
> let us all know just what evil lurks in the minds of men.
Quite a paradox. Remember how Arthur Clarke said that any technology
you don't understand is indistinguishable from magic? Well, it cuts both
ways: technology can make you more superstitious just because you _do_
understand it. For instance, an exposure to the Human Genome Project
can convince a reformed racist all over again, and with more scientific
rigor than before, that national bloods exist and should never be mixed.
Similarly, a former Christian fanatic can go gaga over the prospect of
downloading his consciousness into a computer and so becoming immortal
after all.
Since these and other notions are "true" in their own way, the prospect is
that the popularization of science will spawn ever better supported cultic
consenses the stronger and more penetrating it becomes. The idea of a
single popular consensus is a fantasy.
v.
